FIC: How I Hate Going Out in the Storm
Title: How I Hate Going Out in the Storm
Pairing: Klaine
Includes: mpreg
Word Count: ~1550
Summary: Kurt is trying to make the perfect Christmas for his incoming family, but the weather has other ideas.
AN: Written for the Winter Holiday Weekly Writing Challenge at gleempreg.
Kurt stood in the middle of the aisle with his hands in his hair. Blaine looked at him for a moment, watching the crowd stream around him like a school of fish. Determined, Christmas-going fish.
“How about we start with non-perishables? I’ll pick up the peanut butter, the jam-”
“I have jam. Preserves, actually. I made them last summer.” Kurt patted his pockets for his list. “Oh, God! I forgot the list! We’ll have to go back and then by the time we’re shopping it’ll be ten times as busy, and they’ll run out of things, and what if we can’t make vegan alternatives for Rachel-”
Blaine grabbed Kurt’s arms and pulled him closer. There were huffy sounds by the shoppers passing them by, but Blaine didn’t care.
“I have the list. Keep calm. It’s all going to be fine, and it’ll all get done.”
Kurt took in a deep breath, then pressed his forehead to Blaine’s. “It’s all going to be fine, and it’ll all get done. Oh, but what about-”
“I’m picking your family up from the airport tomorrow, and Finn is bringing Rachel. The other guests are someone else’s problem.” Blaine nuzzled his nose and moved them next to the merchandise in the middle of the aisle, hoping they were far enough out of the stream of traffic. “This is too stressful. I told you that you should stay home. Relax for a little bit. You can trust me to get what we need.”
“I know, I just...”
Blaine trailed his hand down the round, firm bulge at the front of Kurt’s ribbed cream sweater. Their little baby boy.
“I love you. I love you whether or not you’re making this a perfect Christmas. I love you even if we have to cut back on certain holiday traditions and let someone else do all the work to make things magical.” Blaine kissed his nose. “You’ve been the mom in your family since you were eight or nine, at least. Now you’re gonna be a dad. You need to take a step back, if it’s too hard on you.”
“You-” Kurt quirked his lips to the side. “-are overreacting. I think you might be hysterical.”
“It’s the hormones.” Blaine kissed his lips, then cupped his cheek.
“Okay.” Kurt took a breath, seeming centered for a moment. “You go down the baking aisle. The flour is gonna be heavy, and it’ll be on the bottom shelf.”
“Oh, I didn’t think of that.” Blaine held his hand and looked for an opening. Then he noticed that their cart had disappeared. “Damn.”
“I’ll start in produce and get a cart, then come to you, okay?” Kurt suggested.
Blaine sighed and shook his head at the crowd. They should’ve done this a week ago. “Call me if you get too tired or if you need anything.”
“Just get a little hand basket and collect those spices I have on the list. I’ll meet you there to dump the flour and sugar in the basket.” Kurt kissed Blaine’s cheek and gave his back a rub as he headed off toward the front of the store.
Christmas was going to be a little crazy this year. Hopefully he could get Kurt to slow down once their friends were there to help.
***
Kurt chose to take an hour break after getting home from the store, and while it put his schedule off even further, he suspected it also put Blaine’s worries at ease. He yawned and stretched out in the big soft chair next to their bare tree. He could feel his son moving now, and that was so strange and so magical at the same time.
“It’s really coming down out there,” Blaine murmured, peering out the window. “I hope they don’t delay the planes.”
“I’m not thinking about that until it happens.” Kurt closed his eyes and folded his hands over his belly.
“Probably a good idea.” Blaine smirked and came to cuddle with Kurt in the chair. “Well, if they have any trouble, they can always hitch a ride on Santa’s sleigh.”
“Oh, would you listen to him?” Kurt said to his belly. “Your Papa is silly.”
“That’s true.” Blaine bowed over and pressed a kiss to his tummy. “What can I do?”
“Um...” Kurt pinched his lips to the side. “Bring up the recipes on the laptop, and set out the butter we’ll need for them all. I can make the dough first, then put them in one by one.”
“We can make the dough.”
“No. You can decorate while I bake. You’re right. We’ll get done what we get done.” Kurt shrugged and smiled at Blaine. “But I’d like the apartment to be nice.”
“You’re the perfect host.”
“Hm.” Kurt felt a purr coming up through his chest as Blaine’s hand caressed his belly, then moved down to massage his thighs. His eyes open, and he licked his lips as he looked at Blaine, who bit his lip, then slipped down to the floor with a wicked smile.
***
Blaine gave Kurt a lingering kiss before getting in the car that morning. Kurt had been particularly flirty since they’d woken together, curled up in their sheets, enjoying one another’s warmth. He’d also promised not to work too hard on getting things ready for their visitors, who should understand that even Kurt Hummel had limitations.
On the way, Blaine had to drive slowly, and he was worried that he might get there too late. He needn’t have worried, though. Halfway there, he got a call from Burt saying they had gotten redirected to another airport. He dug out the GPS, gave Kurt a quick text to say that he’d be late, then changed directions.
It wasn’t too long before he had to pull over to the side of the road due to the ice. There he waited, watching the snow keep coming, and coming, and coming.
He tried to call Kurt again, but his phone wasn’t getting through. He pressed his lips together, turned off the car to save the gas, and tried to wait it out in his coat, hat and gloves.
***
It hit lunch time, and Blaine was still not home. Kurt was officially worried. He sat down from where he’d been dutifully putting the finishing touches on the petit fours, and he just began to cry. It was dramatics, overreacting, hormones. Still, he sobbed, giving in for the moment to his fretting.
When he regained his senses, he stood again, cleaned up the mess and carefully put the cookies in their proper tins.
“Everything is going to be fine. They will all make it home.”
He hugged himself, then reached for his phone. Blaine wasn’t answering.
“Probably... the weather.” He touched his belly and rubbed gently. “It’s okay, baby boy. Papa’s just... caught in the weather. He’s fine. They’re all fine.”
He turned off the oven, then touched his forehead and went over to his chair. He sank into it and let the lights from the tree flicker over him.
“Everything is going to be fine.”
***
It was getting too cold to just sit there in the car, so Blaine turned on the heater and waited some more. The snow was piling up, and if he wasn’t careful, he’d be stuck in this car. Then again, if he wandered out of there, he could really freeze. Every so often, he opened the door and pushed the piled snow away from his door.
He reached for his phone again and frowned at the clock. It was starting to get late. God, Kurt was going to be so worried. Blaine huddled up and tried to conserve his heat.
***
Aside from the fact that Blaine had the car, the snow was coming down heavily enough that Kurt doubted he could even get anyone else to take him down street by street just to search for Blaine.
Or his dead body.
“No, I don’t think that,” Kurt assured the baby. He gave the side of his belly a pat, then pushed himself up out of his chair and made his way over to try his cell phone again. “Of course, I don’t think that, baby. We’ll be okay, you and me.”
The lights flickered and went out.
“Shit.”
***
Rachel shook the snow off of her new winter coat as she hurried into the airport and looked around. They’d gotten a call from Burt and Carole an hour ago, asking for a ride from the airport and information on Kurt and Blaine. Finn hadn’t been able to reach his brother either, so they’d assumed that cell phone service was down in their area of the city. This storm was really terrible.
She spotted Carole, then hurried over to give her a hug and accepted one from Burt as well.
“You think there’s any getting into the city right now?” Burt asked. “I’m kinda worried, not being able to call them. They were gonna pick us up.”
“You don’t think they’re stuck out there, do you?” Rachel asked. She frowned and put her hand over her heart. The boys weren’t dumb, but if they were stuck out in the snow, everyone should rightly be concerned about them.
“I don’t think Blaine would take Kurt out into a snowstorm,” Carole said.
Burt grabbed the handle of their luggage and started to pull it along. “I’d like to try to get over there anyway. You know how he worries.”
Rachel didn’t have to ask for pronoun clarification. She lead them out to the curb where Finn was waiting.
After a few hours of driving around, they were forced to go back to their apartment. The roads were blocked off, and even with Finn’s big SUV barreling through the snow on new snow tires, there was no getting through. They would have to wait until morning.
Instead of spending Christmas Eve at Kurt and Blaine’s, enjoying whatever feast the guys had whipped up, carols, and cookies and cocoa, they shared Chinese around Finn and Rachel’s tiny television, watching Christmas specials. Rachel didn’t fail to notice the number of times Carole and Burt were checking their cell phones.
***
It was late that night when Blaine woke, starving and shivering. His car had stopped, the gas spent. He struggled with the door. Snow pressed right up against it. He managed to crack it open enough to slip out, barely.
The next half-hour was spent wading through the snow. Blaine was glad that Kurt had made him put on socks before he’d left the apartment. Thick socks, which Finn had been giving him since high school.
He stumbled and fell into the snow. Blaine closed his eyes for a moment, and thought of Kurt at home. Worrying about him out there. Worrying about his parents. Probably worrying about not being able to give them all a warm meal when they got there on top of everything.
With some effort, he kept trudging down the road. Eventually, he stumbled upon a building with a light on and rapped on the door. He danced from foot to foot for a few minutes before moving on. After trying several shops, he spotted a pizzeria with the lights on, and knocked as hard as he could stand, his knuckles aching from the cold.
A girl opened the door, then waved him inside frantically.
“God, it’s so cold! I’m glad we left the lights on!” She shut the door behind her and locked it.
“How do you have power when all the other stores are dark?” Blaine rubbed his arms and looked around. “I hope the outage is just around here.”
“I dunno. I think about half the city is out.” She lead him over to a table by the counter where several others were sharing a pizza. “We have a backup generator, though, for the building. I think everyone else sent people home early.”
“My pregnant partner is at home. It’s so cold. I hope the heat isn’t out in our apartment...” he muttered, taking the seat offered to him. “Sorry. I’m Blaine. Thank you for taking me in. I just haven’t been able to get through on the cell, and I’m worried...”
“Oh, honey!” An older, heavy-set woman got up and started making him a plate. “No need to be proper. This is a rough night for everyone here. I was lucky to get through to my kids to make sure they were okay! You want to try my phone? Maybe our network is still up.”
“I would really appreciate it. Kurt’ll just worry, and he worries enough.” Blaine took the phone gratefully and tried Kurt’s number. It was a long shot, he knew, but he had to try. But of course, it didn’t connect.
Wiping a few tears away, he tried Burt’s number again, letting it ring a long time.
“Uh, hello?”
“Oh! Burt! It’s good to hear your voice!”
“Goddamn, Blaine. I was worried when you didn’t show up! It’s Blaine,” Burt added, obviously talking to someone else there. “Yeah, I dunno. I’ll ask. Where are you? What happened?”
“The streets got bad. I had to pull over. I’m at Margarita’s Pizzeria. Have you heard from Kurt?”
“Not a peep. We’ve called over and over.”
“Our provider is down. I’m calling from the phone of a nice lady here.” He looked over to her.
“Valerie.”
“Valerie. Thank you. I swear, if we were having a girl, we’d name our baby after you.”
Burt chuckled. “I’m glad you’re safe. We’re at Finn’s, by the way. No worries about us. And Kurt’s at home?”
“Yes. I might have to try to walk home-”
“Don’t you try it. It’s gonna get worse before morning.” Blaine nodded and touched his cheek. His stomach hurt, thinking of Kurt alone at home.
“It’s gonna be okay. We’ll all get through this.”
“Okay. Okay.” Blaine nodded. “You’re right.”
He talked with Carole for a minute, then got handed off to Rachel and Finn.
“Thanks, Valerie. I really appreciate it.” He handed her his phone.
“Eat up!” the girl said.
“Yeah, no reason to make yourself sick, hon.” Valerie came over with a glass of water for him. “Keep yourself healthy for your fiancée back home.”
Blaine nodded. He was definitely going to take Kurt to this pizzeria when this was all over.
***
The apartment was freezing the next evening when Blaine stepped through the door. Finn had come by to pick him up only an hour before, and all of them had come together across the streets, which were slowly being cleared.
But it was so cold in there. The electricity had clearly not returned yet, and Blaine darted from room to room, looking for Kurt, calling his name.
“Kurt! Baby? I’m home!”
He darted into the kitchen/living room area and stopped at the sight before him. The counters were covered with cookie tins, and there was a battery operated heater pointed at a mound of blankets just by the Christmas tree. The little black cat was sitting on top of them. She protested with a startled meow when Kurt peeked his head out.
“Blaine!”
Blaine practically slide over to him and ducked under the blankets to wrap his arms around Kurt. “Oh, God! I was so worried.”
“You were worried! You were the one out there!” Kurt objected.
Blaine petted Kurt’s belly and started to tear up. “But you were all alone, and it’s so cold-” “We’re okay,” Kurt promise, caressing his face.
Blaine kissed his lips ferociously.
“I was so worried,” Kurt murmured.
“Baby, people die in their homes when it’s this cold,” Blaine argued. “You... You could’ve...”
Their family had drifted into the room.
“Connor next door popped by to check on me. He sold me the heater for a cookie plate.” He smiled up at his family. “He might’ve given it to me anyway. I think that’s why he came over to start with.”
“I’m glad at least one of your neighbors is looking after you,” Burt grumbled.
“C’mon. Your parents reserved us a hotel.” Blaine helped Kurt up and held him close, even after his family, one by one, came over to give Kurt a hug.
***
Kurt met Blaine’s eye as he helped him lower himself onto the sofa in their hotel suit. His eyes closed for a moment as Blaine pressed a kiss to his forehead, then watched as he settled in next to him and draped his arm around Kurt’s shoulders.
“You look so much better now that you’re warm and fed,” Blaine muttered.
He kissed his cheek and rubbed a hand over Kurt’s belly. His cheeks felt rosy, now. Lit up. Their family clustered around them, and just a little after midnight, they started to open their presents. It didn’t matter if they were celebrating in a cramped hotel suite, or that there were only a few decorations that they’d strung up to make the room festive. Rachel had brought a few holiday cds from the car, including one she and Kurt had made together during college.
“God, I remember singing this song with you guys and Mercedes,” Blaine muttered.
“I remember my favorite things,” Rachel sang energetically.
Kurt pitched in, with Blaine and Finn. “And then I don’t feeel soo bad!”
Rachel popped up and handed a gift to Kurt. He pressed his lips together in a smile, then blinked away tears.
“Oh, honey.” Carole came over and rubbed his shoulders.
“Oh, I’m fine. I just can’t want to tell our son about the Christmas before he was born.” Kurt smiled up at her. “This couldn’t have been more perfect if I’d planned it all.”
“We’ll make sure to order up a Nor’easter next year, too,” Burt joked.
“Oh, hush.” Carole laughed, smacking Burt’s arm.
Kurt rolled his eyes and rested his head on Blaine’s shoulder. He would doze off before the others that night. But his memory of that year would, in spite of how terrifying it had been waiting to hear about Blaine and his family, forever focus on the warmth and love once they had come in from the storm.
This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.
comments posted there. Please comment there using OpenID or your DW account.
Pairing: Klaine
Includes: mpreg
Word Count: ~1550
Summary: Kurt is trying to make the perfect Christmas for his incoming family, but the weather has other ideas.
AN: Written for the Winter Holiday Weekly Writing Challenge at gleempreg.
Kurt stood in the middle of the aisle with his hands in his hair. Blaine looked at him for a moment, watching the crowd stream around him like a school of fish. Determined, Christmas-going fish.
“How about we start with non-perishables? I’ll pick up the peanut butter, the jam-”
“I have jam. Preserves, actually. I made them last summer.” Kurt patted his pockets for his list. “Oh, God! I forgot the list! We’ll have to go back and then by the time we’re shopping it’ll be ten times as busy, and they’ll run out of things, and what if we can’t make vegan alternatives for Rachel-”
Blaine grabbed Kurt’s arms and pulled him closer. There were huffy sounds by the shoppers passing them by, but Blaine didn’t care.
“I have the list. Keep calm. It’s all going to be fine, and it’ll all get done.”
Kurt took in a deep breath, then pressed his forehead to Blaine’s. “It’s all going to be fine, and it’ll all get done. Oh, but what about-”
“I’m picking your family up from the airport tomorrow, and Finn is bringing Rachel. The other guests are someone else’s problem.” Blaine nuzzled his nose and moved them next to the merchandise in the middle of the aisle, hoping they were far enough out of the stream of traffic. “This is too stressful. I told you that you should stay home. Relax for a little bit. You can trust me to get what we need.”
“I know, I just...”
Blaine trailed his hand down the round, firm bulge at the front of Kurt’s ribbed cream sweater. Their little baby boy.
“I love you. I love you whether or not you’re making this a perfect Christmas. I love you even if we have to cut back on certain holiday traditions and let someone else do all the work to make things magical.” Blaine kissed his nose. “You’ve been the mom in your family since you were eight or nine, at least. Now you’re gonna be a dad. You need to take a step back, if it’s too hard on you.”
“You-” Kurt quirked his lips to the side. “-are overreacting. I think you might be hysterical.”
“It’s the hormones.” Blaine kissed his lips, then cupped his cheek.
“Okay.” Kurt took a breath, seeming centered for a moment. “You go down the baking aisle. The flour is gonna be heavy, and it’ll be on the bottom shelf.”
“Oh, I didn’t think of that.” Blaine held his hand and looked for an opening. Then he noticed that their cart had disappeared. “Damn.”
“I’ll start in produce and get a cart, then come to you, okay?” Kurt suggested.
Blaine sighed and shook his head at the crowd. They should’ve done this a week ago. “Call me if you get too tired or if you need anything.”
“Just get a little hand basket and collect those spices I have on the list. I’ll meet you there to dump the flour and sugar in the basket.” Kurt kissed Blaine’s cheek and gave his back a rub as he headed off toward the front of the store.
Christmas was going to be a little crazy this year. Hopefully he could get Kurt to slow down once their friends were there to help.
***
Kurt chose to take an hour break after getting home from the store, and while it put his schedule off even further, he suspected it also put Blaine’s worries at ease. He yawned and stretched out in the big soft chair next to their bare tree. He could feel his son moving now, and that was so strange and so magical at the same time.
“It’s really coming down out there,” Blaine murmured, peering out the window. “I hope they don’t delay the planes.”
“I’m not thinking about that until it happens.” Kurt closed his eyes and folded his hands over his belly.
“Probably a good idea.” Blaine smirked and came to cuddle with Kurt in the chair. “Well, if they have any trouble, they can always hitch a ride on Santa’s sleigh.”
“Oh, would you listen to him?” Kurt said to his belly. “Your Papa is silly.”
“That’s true.” Blaine bowed over and pressed a kiss to his tummy. “What can I do?”
“Um...” Kurt pinched his lips to the side. “Bring up the recipes on the laptop, and set out the butter we’ll need for them all. I can make the dough first, then put them in one by one.”
“We can make the dough.”
“No. You can decorate while I bake. You’re right. We’ll get done what we get done.” Kurt shrugged and smiled at Blaine. “But I’d like the apartment to be nice.”
“You’re the perfect host.”
“Hm.” Kurt felt a purr coming up through his chest as Blaine’s hand caressed his belly, then moved down to massage his thighs. His eyes open, and he licked his lips as he looked at Blaine, who bit his lip, then slipped down to the floor with a wicked smile.
***
Blaine gave Kurt a lingering kiss before getting in the car that morning. Kurt had been particularly flirty since they’d woken together, curled up in their sheets, enjoying one another’s warmth. He’d also promised not to work too hard on getting things ready for their visitors, who should understand that even Kurt Hummel had limitations.
On the way, Blaine had to drive slowly, and he was worried that he might get there too late. He needn’t have worried, though. Halfway there, he got a call from Burt saying they had gotten redirected to another airport. He dug out the GPS, gave Kurt a quick text to say that he’d be late, then changed directions.
It wasn’t too long before he had to pull over to the side of the road due to the ice. There he waited, watching the snow keep coming, and coming, and coming.
He tried to call Kurt again, but his phone wasn’t getting through. He pressed his lips together, turned off the car to save the gas, and tried to wait it out in his coat, hat and gloves.
***
It hit lunch time, and Blaine was still not home. Kurt was officially worried. He sat down from where he’d been dutifully putting the finishing touches on the petit fours, and he just began to cry. It was dramatics, overreacting, hormones. Still, he sobbed, giving in for the moment to his fretting.
When he regained his senses, he stood again, cleaned up the mess and carefully put the cookies in their proper tins.
“Everything is going to be fine. They will all make it home.”
He hugged himself, then reached for his phone. Blaine wasn’t answering.
“Probably... the weather.” He touched his belly and rubbed gently. “It’s okay, baby boy. Papa’s just... caught in the weather. He’s fine. They’re all fine.”
He turned off the oven, then touched his forehead and went over to his chair. He sank into it and let the lights from the tree flicker over him.
“Everything is going to be fine.”
***
It was getting too cold to just sit there in the car, so Blaine turned on the heater and waited some more. The snow was piling up, and if he wasn’t careful, he’d be stuck in this car. Then again, if he wandered out of there, he could really freeze. Every so often, he opened the door and pushed the piled snow away from his door.
He reached for his phone again and frowned at the clock. It was starting to get late. God, Kurt was going to be so worried. Blaine huddled up and tried to conserve his heat.
***
Aside from the fact that Blaine had the car, the snow was coming down heavily enough that Kurt doubted he could even get anyone else to take him down street by street just to search for Blaine.
Or his dead body.
“No, I don’t think that,” Kurt assured the baby. He gave the side of his belly a pat, then pushed himself up out of his chair and made his way over to try his cell phone again. “Of course, I don’t think that, baby. We’ll be okay, you and me.”
The lights flickered and went out.
“Shit.”
***
Rachel shook the snow off of her new winter coat as she hurried into the airport and looked around. They’d gotten a call from Burt and Carole an hour ago, asking for a ride from the airport and information on Kurt and Blaine. Finn hadn’t been able to reach his brother either, so they’d assumed that cell phone service was down in their area of the city. This storm was really terrible.
She spotted Carole, then hurried over to give her a hug and accepted one from Burt as well.
“You think there’s any getting into the city right now?” Burt asked. “I’m kinda worried, not being able to call them. They were gonna pick us up.”
“You don’t think they’re stuck out there, do you?” Rachel asked. She frowned and put her hand over her heart. The boys weren’t dumb, but if they were stuck out in the snow, everyone should rightly be concerned about them.
“I don’t think Blaine would take Kurt out into a snowstorm,” Carole said.
Burt grabbed the handle of their luggage and started to pull it along. “I’d like to try to get over there anyway. You know how he worries.”
Rachel didn’t have to ask for pronoun clarification. She lead them out to the curb where Finn was waiting.
After a few hours of driving around, they were forced to go back to their apartment. The roads were blocked off, and even with Finn’s big SUV barreling through the snow on new snow tires, there was no getting through. They would have to wait until morning.
Instead of spending Christmas Eve at Kurt and Blaine’s, enjoying whatever feast the guys had whipped up, carols, and cookies and cocoa, they shared Chinese around Finn and Rachel’s tiny television, watching Christmas specials. Rachel didn’t fail to notice the number of times Carole and Burt were checking their cell phones.
***
It was late that night when Blaine woke, starving and shivering. His car had stopped, the gas spent. He struggled with the door. Snow pressed right up against it. He managed to crack it open enough to slip out, barely.
The next half-hour was spent wading through the snow. Blaine was glad that Kurt had made him put on socks before he’d left the apartment. Thick socks, which Finn had been giving him since high school.
He stumbled and fell into the snow. Blaine closed his eyes for a moment, and thought of Kurt at home. Worrying about him out there. Worrying about his parents. Probably worrying about not being able to give them all a warm meal when they got there on top of everything.
With some effort, he kept trudging down the road. Eventually, he stumbled upon a building with a light on and rapped on the door. He danced from foot to foot for a few minutes before moving on. After trying several shops, he spotted a pizzeria with the lights on, and knocked as hard as he could stand, his knuckles aching from the cold.
A girl opened the door, then waved him inside frantically.
“God, it’s so cold! I’m glad we left the lights on!” She shut the door behind her and locked it.
“How do you have power when all the other stores are dark?” Blaine rubbed his arms and looked around. “I hope the outage is just around here.”
“I dunno. I think about half the city is out.” She lead him over to a table by the counter where several others were sharing a pizza. “We have a backup generator, though, for the building. I think everyone else sent people home early.”
“My pregnant partner is at home. It’s so cold. I hope the heat isn’t out in our apartment...” he muttered, taking the seat offered to him. “Sorry. I’m Blaine. Thank you for taking me in. I just haven’t been able to get through on the cell, and I’m worried...”
“Oh, honey!” An older, heavy-set woman got up and started making him a plate. “No need to be proper. This is a rough night for everyone here. I was lucky to get through to my kids to make sure they were okay! You want to try my phone? Maybe our network is still up.”
“I would really appreciate it. Kurt’ll just worry, and he worries enough.” Blaine took the phone gratefully and tried Kurt’s number. It was a long shot, he knew, but he had to try. But of course, it didn’t connect.
Wiping a few tears away, he tried Burt’s number again, letting it ring a long time.
“Uh, hello?”
“Oh! Burt! It’s good to hear your voice!”
“Goddamn, Blaine. I was worried when you didn’t show up! It’s Blaine,” Burt added, obviously talking to someone else there. “Yeah, I dunno. I’ll ask. Where are you? What happened?”
“The streets got bad. I had to pull over. I’m at Margarita’s Pizzeria. Have you heard from Kurt?”
“Not a peep. We’ve called over and over.”
“Our provider is down. I’m calling from the phone of a nice lady here.” He looked over to her.
“Valerie.”
“Valerie. Thank you. I swear, if we were having a girl, we’d name our baby after you.”
Burt chuckled. “I’m glad you’re safe. We’re at Finn’s, by the way. No worries about us. And Kurt’s at home?”
“Yes. I might have to try to walk home-”
“Don’t you try it. It’s gonna get worse before morning.” Blaine nodded and touched his cheek. His stomach hurt, thinking of Kurt alone at home.
“It’s gonna be okay. We’ll all get through this.”
“Okay. Okay.” Blaine nodded. “You’re right.”
He talked with Carole for a minute, then got handed off to Rachel and Finn.
“Thanks, Valerie. I really appreciate it.” He handed her his phone.
“Eat up!” the girl said.
“Yeah, no reason to make yourself sick, hon.” Valerie came over with a glass of water for him. “Keep yourself healthy for your fiancée back home.”
Blaine nodded. He was definitely going to take Kurt to this pizzeria when this was all over.
***
The apartment was freezing the next evening when Blaine stepped through the door. Finn had come by to pick him up only an hour before, and all of them had come together across the streets, which were slowly being cleared.
But it was so cold in there. The electricity had clearly not returned yet, and Blaine darted from room to room, looking for Kurt, calling his name.
“Kurt! Baby? I’m home!”
He darted into the kitchen/living room area and stopped at the sight before him. The counters were covered with cookie tins, and there was a battery operated heater pointed at a mound of blankets just by the Christmas tree. The little black cat was sitting on top of them. She protested with a startled meow when Kurt peeked his head out.
“Blaine!”
Blaine practically slide over to him and ducked under the blankets to wrap his arms around Kurt. “Oh, God! I was so worried.”
“You were worried! You were the one out there!” Kurt objected.
Blaine petted Kurt’s belly and started to tear up. “But you were all alone, and it’s so cold-” “We’re okay,” Kurt promise, caressing his face.
Blaine kissed his lips ferociously.
“I was so worried,” Kurt murmured.
“Baby, people die in their homes when it’s this cold,” Blaine argued. “You... You could’ve...”
Their family had drifted into the room.
“Connor next door popped by to check on me. He sold me the heater for a cookie plate.” He smiled up at his family. “He might’ve given it to me anyway. I think that’s why he came over to start with.”
“I’m glad at least one of your neighbors is looking after you,” Burt grumbled.
“C’mon. Your parents reserved us a hotel.” Blaine helped Kurt up and held him close, even after his family, one by one, came over to give Kurt a hug.
***
Kurt met Blaine’s eye as he helped him lower himself onto the sofa in their hotel suit. His eyes closed for a moment as Blaine pressed a kiss to his forehead, then watched as he settled in next to him and draped his arm around Kurt’s shoulders.
“You look so much better now that you’re warm and fed,” Blaine muttered.
He kissed his cheek and rubbed a hand over Kurt’s belly. His cheeks felt rosy, now. Lit up. Their family clustered around them, and just a little after midnight, they started to open their presents. It didn’t matter if they were celebrating in a cramped hotel suite, or that there were only a few decorations that they’d strung up to make the room festive. Rachel had brought a few holiday cds from the car, including one she and Kurt had made together during college.
“God, I remember singing this song with you guys and Mercedes,” Blaine muttered.
“I remember my favorite things,” Rachel sang energetically.
Kurt pitched in, with Blaine and Finn. “And then I don’t feeel soo bad!”
Rachel popped up and handed a gift to Kurt. He pressed his lips together in a smile, then blinked away tears.
“Oh, honey.” Carole came over and rubbed his shoulders.
“Oh, I’m fine. I just can’t want to tell our son about the Christmas before he was born.” Kurt smiled up at her. “This couldn’t have been more perfect if I’d planned it all.”
“We’ll make sure to order up a Nor’easter next year, too,” Burt joked.
“Oh, hush.” Carole laughed, smacking Burt’s arm.
Kurt rolled his eyes and rested his head on Blaine’s shoulder. He would doze off before the others that night. But his memory of that year would, in spite of how terrifying it had been waiting to hear about Blaine and his family, forever focus on the warmth and love once they had come in from the storm.
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